UR Traditions Relegated To The Dustbin Of History

[FrontRoyalSpider]

There are a number of "traditions" and policies that no longer exist at UR Here are a few that come to mind:

Beginning in the fall of 1972, Freshmen men were not required to wear a red/blue beanie to class.
Every student, regardless of their major, was required to take at least one religion class,
The university was affiliated with The Baptist General Association of Virginia.
The University president must be a Baptist.
Every year at Commencement, the university conferred on a clergyman the DD Degree. (Doctor of Divinity)
My grandfather had his honor conferred upon him by the university in the early 1950s.
The last DD was conferred by UR
on Dr. Charles Stanley, pastor of First Baptist Church, Atlanta.

The UR/W&M game was always played at City Stadium on Thanksgiving morning.
The degrees no longer indicate "Richmond College" or "Westhampton College"
The yearbook,"The Web' is no longer published.
I am not sure about this: I believe the Westhampton Snowball dance at the Hotel Jefferson no longer takes place.
At one time there was a Westhampton May Court.
Due to the cancer of PC, the university did away with its best spider mascot, the Confederate uniformed clad General Spidey.
There is no longer a Homecoming parade.
These are the ones I can think of...

This post was edited on 9/29 8:11 PM by FrontRoyalSpider

This post was edited on 9/29 8:11 PM by FrontRoyalSpider

 

[RylandRecluse]

Is that really the case that diplomas no longer say Richmond or Westhampton? My 2006 degree includes it, but then again I haven't seen any more recent versions.

As for the required red and blue beanies, that sounds like a tradition that won't be missed by many today. I can only imagine how much our rivals would make fun of us for something like that.

 

[WebSpinner]

was issued a beanie upon entering in the 60s but was never required to wear it to class and never saw anyone do such. think frs has some confusion or this is urban legend.

 

[SFspidur]

As far as I know, Richmond and Westhampton colleges are still mentioned and their seals included in the lower right corner. Graduating students who do not wish to identify with a gender-based college may elect to receive a diploma that omits this, but that's a very small minority.

 

[BeavCowboy]

What I remember:

* Saturday morning classes went away after 70-71 or 71-72, just before I got there. I would not have enjoyed Saturday morning classes.

* I believe mandatory convocations ended in 71-72 also because we did not have them in 72-73.

* Sex-segregated dining in the Refectory ended in 73-74 or 74-75. That said, you never saw many women in the Refectory until 75-76, supposedly because the food was better in North Court. The current dining hall is unbelievable to someone who remembers when getting a deli bar was a major upgrade.

* Rush lasted three weeks and ended with a huge beer bash/party on New Fraternity Row, with the bands on the porches of the Theta Chi or Phi Kap or KA house. There were also frequent keggers/band parties in the auxiliary gym, Millheiser Gym or the Greek Theatre.

* Visitation on the RC side was very limited and you had to leave your door open when a woman was in the room. So people lined up both dressers in front of the door and put a blanket over the back of the mirrors to create a more private setting (not that it mattered in my room, ha). There was no visitation on the WC side until RC Senate president George Kendall led a huge sit-in over there my sophomore year and very limited visitation started in 1974-75.

* Old fraternity row had SAE, SPE, Phi Delt and FIJI on one side and Lambda Chi, Sigma Chi and Pika on the RC side. ZBT, next to SAE, had just gone under. New frat row had Theta Chi, Phi Kap, KA and Kappa Sig.

* You could bring coolers in to football games in 72 and 73 but not in 74 and after. We always went in on the "old" side of City Stadium because security was far less stringent and it was easier to sneak booze in.

* Not sure when the old RC post office went away. I think the slop shop closed when the current commons opened in 1976-77.

* Almost all of my history and English classes were sex-segregated until my senior year. Poly sci, religion, science and math were not.

* We needed two credits in phys ed to graduated. It was a very enjoyable class, with Drs. Humbert, Jordan and McNeil. We played Hardyball, basketball, tennis, badmitton, swimming, etc. I always took it first thing in the morning because I could get up at the last minute and then just shower over at the RC.

* There was an intramural field adjacent to Millheiser; now it's a parking lot. We also played intramurals up on Bandy Lane, on site of the current X lot, and in that park on Three Chopt between the Village Shopping Center and campus.

* Phil's. A classic. Right next to the Westhampton Theatre.

* Bernie's Sub Shop, the Hitchin' Post and the Seven-11 in the Tuckahoe Shopping Center. Villa Pizza and The Pass downtown. There was a bar in the little shopping center on the NE corner of Parham & Patterson. There also was a Hardee's up on Parham that was convenient. Regency Square opened my sophomore or junior year. Sometimes we went over to Forest Hill Shopping Center on the South Side.

I'm sure there are some other things that have disappeared over the years but that's what I remember from 72-76.
This post was edited on 9/30 5:36 PM by BeavCowboy

 

[72Spider]

The Tempo Room at corner of Libbie and Grove. Hilarious entertainment by the ma and pa owners and the cast of characters serving as waiters and "dancers"

 

[BeavCowboy]

Yes! I was trying to remember the name of that place and knew it was close to Phil's. They sometimes had a one-man band named "Oldie B. Goldy" or something like that.

 

[Ulla1]

Beav, thanks for the memories. I graduated in 1969, but recall many of the same things. I could add "The Attaché" and "Julian's Pizza".

 

[localspider]

Bill's Barbecue, What-A-Burger, and Montecalvos, those were the days.

 

[WebSpinner]

RAC, the RICHMOND AUTO COURT over on rt. 1. OK, a bit obscure, never used it myself but a lot of my frat bros lived over there on weekends, with their dates from out of town, mostly nova. Beav, was fun looking over your list and saying yes, unhuh, sure. did not like the mayos who ran the post office, the slop shop and thought they controlled all of the food on campus, would not let the pizza delivery guy on campus but did like the slop shop except that they automatically spread mayo on the grilled cheese there, had to break them of that. the barracks, both where to live and go to english class, classic.

 

[BeavCowboy]

I had some classes in the barracks. What dumpy, creaky, drafty and cold old buildings. No one was living there by the time I got to school, I think because Lakeside (Marsh) or Freeman had just opened.

I forgot being able to smoke in class. For those of us with that nasty habit, it helped pass 6-7 minutes in a boring lecture. It is obviously no longer allowed, and I am smart enough to have quit and have not had a Marlboro red for 35 years this Jan. 1.

 

[FrontRoyalSpider]

I recall Dr. Sartain and Dr. Ryle smoking pipes in the classroom. Also Dr. Stewart smoking a cig in class.

In 1973 went with the UR band to the football game at Davidson. There was a keg on the bus. When we got to Davidson, DR. Heilman stepped into the bus and said hello to everyone.. Somebody offered him a beer. He graciously declined. We went on to smash the Wildcats something like 42-0.

 

[FrontRoyalSpider]

My wife grew up on Westham Pkwy, less than a mile from the Westhampton College gate. We met the first week of my junior year at UR. In the middle of January (1975) I came down with the flu. My wife-to-be asked her mother if I could stay over for the weekend so that I would not have to walk from their house back to the dorm. From that point on, I spent most Fri and Sat night at 17 Westham Pkwy. I slept in the guest room. Her parents were home so any "fun n games" took place at the Regency Inn or The Holiday Inn on West Broad.

I recall one warm spring day,I met my wife to be over at the Jenkins Greek Theater. The place was teeming with "Westhampton Bikinis"! My wife to be was in her small white bikini. How sexy!

Too bad cell phones with cameras had yet to be invented in 1975-1976!
This post was edited on 10/1 5:18 PM by FrontRoyalSpider

 

[BeavCowboy]

I thought of another one today. My freshman and sophomore years, when I lived on campus, they would open the side room at the Refectory at about 10 p.m. during winter and spring finals and serve donuts, coffee and hot chocolate. It was a pretty popular destination for those of us who lived in the dorms.

 

[Anachnoid]

Have I missed references to panty raids?

 

[BronxSpider]

I loved Julian's. Is Bernie's Subs still there?

 

[URPike]

oh yeah, Bernie's is still here. Just got new tables and chairs too!

 

[WebSpinner]

Pike, is STUFFY,S gone? not in the same class with BERNIE'S but supported them because they were local and not a chain as such. believe both locations of JULIAN'S is gone and liked them as well, particularly the old place on broad. PANTY RAIDS!! participated in a couple of those but came back empty handed. guess today with men and women on the same grounds, a bit more difficult and would probably now be known as THONG RAIDS.

 

[URPike]

Stuffy's is still here, there are 2 locations that I know of for sure and probably more. Not in Bernie's class though. Julian's expanded further west into Henrico Co but has since closed for good. Remember the Hitching Post but only as a kid. What I really missed out on was Barry's - closed after my freshman year.

 

[BillyWayne]

Does anyone remember the Broadway Lounge on Broad Street? Topless waitresses!

 

[WebSpinner]

BW, not as a student but right out of UR, all of us young college grads would usually do lunch at julians but then went a few times there for lunch as well. not sure how long it lasted.

 

[Ulla1]

Spinner, I cannot currently comprehend how my brother, our roommate and I would order whole pizzas at Julien's. We ate the whole thing! Amazing! Great pizza! Circa 1968.

 

[FrontRoyalSpider]

At Giant Open Air you could order a steak. They would grill it , and you could eat it there!

 

[Marley13]

What about Barry's? We used to spend hours there playing quarters.

 

[Rivercup]

Lum's near RPI with their schooners of beer, Andy's about a block away with 10 cent beer nights and 3.2 beer, the Lee Art Theater (although I never went there!), Monte Calvos' pizza, Hardyball, visiting your faculty advisor at his office in the Barracks by the lake, Saturday morning classes my freshman year, basketball games at the Arena. By the way, I am pretty sure that the couple that ran The Tempo Room were brother and sister, not a couple. Can't remember his name but she was called Miss Faye. Think the last name was Favorman.

 

[WebSpinner]

the campus tunnels; flipping butter pats at the art work in the side dining room at the refectory, never did that but watched others; theme nights at the refectory, halloween candy corn food fight was a must see; ice skating on the lake; pierpont; homecoming parades from campus to city stadium with floats; basketball games at the arena; westhampton 16; rpi and mcv girls; general westmoreland inspecting rotc drill on the spot where the ROB sits currently; whopper burger coupons in the collegian; wig wam; two years of two languages or three years of one, ugggggh; saturday morning classes, double ugggh; limited class cuts; one pay phone per dorm section; maids who cleaned and made up our beds, they became our buds; the millhiser gym and greek theater concerts- jackie wilson, the hot nuts, percy sledge, chiffons, classic four, swinging medallions, the impressions; the millhiser basement; hardy ball; a ten piece soul band playing in a 10x16 foot room, can i still hear anything?; beach parties in the ccv sand bunkers; church's fried chicken; the village abc store; .......to be continued, or not.....camptown races; beer tubing down the james; the rocks on a sunny spring saturday

This post was edited on 10/18 9:36 AM by WebSpinner

 

[Anachnoid]

200am food runs to order from a clown face on broad; KK red light for fresh donuts; $2.39 all you can eat prime rib and beer you can drink Tuesday nights in cary town; two bit beer and hotdog night at Parker field; food fights; celebrity room pizza, the biograph; VCU bar/dance clubs; sports captains driving dick Strauss rented vans for away trips; Greek theater parties; hockey field party; men's swimming and waterpolo, wrestling, soccer and track and field; pre city stadium runs to the Abc store in the Village Shopping center; tee shirts v alligator shirts; khakis v jeans; topsiders v tennis shoes; Bogarts back room, bamboo cafe; 2.99 albums at the record store at Willow lawn; incense; scrapple ( who the heck are that- probably same pan all year) refectory cake donuts, boat trips to the island using brooms for paddles, jumping from the island bridge into the lake........A UR MARCHING BAND...

This post was edited on 10/18 6:52 PM by Anachnoid

 

[Stork3]

The all-you-can-eat restaurant in Carytown was Emerson's. Keith Clark and I each polished off three prime ribs one night. They brought you a smaller steak for each additional steak. Remember watching a teammate argue with the lady at the pharmacy that "Trojans are eligible for the Rexall One Cent Sale." Chasing a fly ball in the outfield and dodging Carl Wood's javelin. Playing in games and listening to the baseball crowd at the old Pitt Field - the nastiest and most clever fans in the Southern Conference.

 

[64Spider]

Greek Week skits. Nothing was off limits.

 

[bscoper]

Pronto Pups at City Stadium

 

[WebSpinner]

oh man, do i miss those babies. everything is good deep fat fried....

 

[BeavCowboy]

My group from Moore Hall all went to Emerson's before the 1974 BB game against Tech on "Dump Losing Lew" Night at the RC. That's the night Johnny Moates told me to KHA after we yelled at him for tearing down one of our signs. The Collegian wrote a story about it and I think the headline said, "No misquotes from Johnny Moates."

We were all pretty trashed after our visit to Emerson's but I didn't need beer goggles to see Tech's cheerleaders were smokin' in their hot pants, go-go boots and tight orange tops. OUr cheerleaders looked as if they had just escaped from St. Catherine's. Bob McCurdy had a big game and we beat them again, just like in 1972-73.

I operated the scoreboard at old Pitt Field in 1973, the last year baseball played there. It was way out on the berm leading up to the tennis courts, on the back side of the Refectory. Didn't keep track of balls and strikes, I think just outs and runs.I have some photos of old Pitt Field, what an unusual place for baseball, with a track running through the outfield. Roger Hatcher was the star on that team.

My younger brother played soccer there in 1977 and 1978, the first two seasons (or years 2-3) it was a varsity sport. You mentioned Keith Clark; I played Intramural basketball with him one year on KMOB (the "B' team for KMOA, a former independent intramural power). Nice guy. Maybe our last straight-on kicker?

 

[WebSpinner]

in the 50s, my bro played baseball on that field and also freshman football there, now the site of the ROB. remember catching punts from mike bragg when he came back to school while playing for the REDSKINS. also played intramural hardy ball and softball on that field as well. we all remember the great oak that was behind home plate for a century and lost it while building the ROB.

 

[Spiders05]

Beav - is this your article?

Losing Lew